Hawks and Restraintists Battle for Donald Trump’s Ear
The forces shaping Middle East strategy.
April 10, 2025
The Mysterious Origins of “Had Gadya”
Kidnapped choruses.
Today’s newsletter began with seders and goats, and thus it will end—as does the seder itself—with the familiar Had Gadya, “Only a Kid.” Preceding this is another, similarly, structured song, Ehad Mi Yode’a, “Who Knows One?” These songs have parallels, some of them strikingly similar, throughout cultures across the world. For instance, there is a traditional New England poem that begins with the purchase of a kid for two coins and continues with what Yosef Lindell describes as a “startlingly familiar progression.”
April 10, 2025
Britain Still Treats Israel Like a Colony
Why should any country let hostile foreign politicians inside its borders?
Yes, Cracking Down on Anti-Semites Is Good for the Jews
“Anti-Semitism is real but absolutely nothing must be done about it.”
Two Jewish Soldiers, Killed in World War I, Finally Get Stars of David on Their Tombstones
Adolph Hanf and David Moser, of blessed memory.
The Mysterious Origins of “Had Gadya”
Kidnapped choruses.